Draft Identity Cards Bill

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: My right honourable friend the Home Secretary (David Blunkett) today published a draft Identity Cards Bill for consultation as part of a document explaining the need for legislation, entitled Legislation on Identity Cards: A Consultation (CM 6178).
	The draft Bill establishes the legislative framework that would be necessary for the incremental introduction of the national identity cards scheme as set out in Identity Cards: the next steps (CM 6020) published in November 2003.
	The draft Bill includes provisions that would be required to:
	set up a national identity register that would include identity information on individuals who have been registered and issued with an identity card;
	establish a family of ID cards based on new and existing documents;
	create powers to ensure that the details provided by an applicant can be checked against information already held on other databases to guard against fraud. Each use of these powers will require parliamentary approval;
	provide reassurance that disclosure of information from the national identity register without the individual's consent will not be allowed, apart from for prescribed purposes such as on grounds of national security or for the prevention or investigation of crime, and to ensure there is independent oversight of these arrangements;
	establish new criminal offences for the possession of false identity documents. These will cover offences relating to the new identity card as well as existing identity documents that are false or have been improperly obtained;
	allow a date to be set when it would become compulsory to register and be issued with a card (but not compulsory to carry a card, which is specifically prohibited in the draft Bill). This provision, together with the mandatory requirement to make ID cards the required proof of identity could be brought in only following a vote in both Houses of Parliament, on a detailed report which sets out all the reasons for the proposed move to compulsion and how the Government propose to implement compulsion. Both Houses would be able to amend the proposition before being asked to take a final decision;
	enable regulations to be made, once it was compulsory to register and be issued with an identity card, to make it a requirement to provide proof of identity by the production of an identity card to access public services.
	We welcome the House of Commons Home Affairs Select Committee's announcement of its intention to examine the draft Bill.
	Copies of the consultation document, Legislation on Identity Cards: A Consultation are available in the Vote Office and the Printed Paper Office and have been placed in the Libraries of both Houses and can also be viewed on the identity cards website (www.identitycards.gov.uk). Interested parties are invited to submit their comments and views on the content of the draft Bill by 20 July 2004.

Terrorism Act 2003: Report on Operation

Baroness Scotland of Asthal: I am pleased to announce that Lord Carlile of Berriew QC has completed the report on the operation of the Act, which will be laid before the House today.

Planning Permission

Lord Rooker: My right honourable friend the Minister for Housing and Planning has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
	The Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill contains provisions to reduce the default period for the commencement of development under a planning permission, listed building consent or conservation area consent from five to three years. This provision is a crucial part of our agenda for speeding up the operation of the planning system.
	Local planning authorities have flexibility under existing legislation to vary the length of a permission or consent. This flexibility will remain. The time limit for the commencement of development will normally be three years from the date of permission or consent, but a local planning authority may direct a longer or shorter period as it considers appropriate. Local planning authorities should look favourably upon requests for longer periods of duration where there are valid planning grounds for such a request. There will be cases where three years is unlikely to be long enough to allow developers to complete all the preparation needed before starting work. Longer periods are likely to be appropriate, for example, for complex regeneration projects.
	After the Planning and Compulsory Purchase Bill has completed its parliamentary passage the Government will issue guidance to local planning authorities on the new provisions. In this guidance we will make clear the need for flexibility on the part of local authorities in their dealings with applicants on the duration of permissions and consents.